Suspected terrorist Adnan El Shukrijumah, who carries a Guyana passport, is among seven people being sought anew by US authorities as they prepare for possible terror attacks.
On Wednesday, both US Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI chief Robert Mueller announced that al Qaeda plans to attack the United States in the next few months. They named El Shukrijumah, who was being sought locally last year, among seven likely suspects.
Reuters says the FBI has put out an alert for the suspects, who have been linked to al Qaeda.
Ashcroft described El Shukrijumah as a future facilitator of terrorist attacks for al Qaeda. He said he was involved in terrorist planning with senior al Qaeda leaders overseas and scouted sites across America that might be vulnerable to terrorist attack.
"Credible intelligence, from multiple sources, indicates that al Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States in the next few months," Ashcroft was quoted as saying at a news conference on Wednesday.
"This disturbing intelligence indicates al Qaeda's specific intention to hit the United States hard," he added, though he said he had no information on where or how any future attacks might occur.
But he said Al Qaeda has declared preparations for an attack on the United States were nearly complete.
Ashcroft said al Qaeda may hope that another attack might draw a response like the one after the March 11 train bombings in Madrid. Those attacks influenced Spain's election and led to withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq.
"Al Qaeda may perceive that a largescale attack in the US this summer or fall would lead to similar consequences," ahead of the November US presidential election, he said.
"Several upcoming events over the next few months may suggest especially attractive targets for such an al Qaeda attack." These include the opening of a World War II memorial this weekend in Washington; the Group of Eight summit in Sea Island, Georgia in June; the Fourth of July holiday and the Democratic and Republican Party conventions in Boston and New York at the end of the summer.
Mueller urged Americans to be particularly alert in the coming months.
"Over the next few months we have reason to believe that there will be a heightened threat to US interests around the world," he said. "Unfortunately, we currently do not know what form that threat may take."
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said there were no plans to raise the colour-coded terror alert level, which is currently set at "yellow" the midpoint of the five-point scale for an "elevated" risk of attack.
Security policies questioned
Some critics, including presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Kerry, questioned the Bush administration's policies on security.
"We deserve a president of the United States who doesn't make homeland security a photo opportunity and the rhetoric of a campaign," Kerry said in Seattle. "We deserve a president who makes America safer."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan denied the government was overplaying the threat.
"We've continued to receive a stream of credible intelligence reporting over the last couple of months that points to the possibility of an attack or attacks inside the United States," he said. "We know that they would like to have a dramatic effect."
Mueller said the FBI was putting out an alert on the seven suspects who have been linked to al Qaeda.
El Shukrijumah, who speaks fluent English, is also known as Adnan G. El Shukri Jumah; Abu Arif; Ja'far AlTayar; Jaffar AlTayyar; Jafar Tayar; and Jaafar AlTayyar.
He lived in the US for 15 years but left when he suspected the FBI was interested in his activities, Mueller said, also disclosing that he has tried to return using various passports. El Shukrijumah, is 38 years old and is between 5'3" to 5'6" tall with a medium build. The asthmatic Saudi occasionally wears a beard.
Although he was born in Saudi Arabia he also carries US, Canada, Trinidad and Guyana passports.
Local authorities were put on alert about El Shukrijumah's possible presence here last year, though little came of it. Up to last year, his father was living in Florida. There is a reward of US$5 million for information that leads to El Shukrijumah's capture and conviction.
Ashcroft said the seven are sought in connection with the possible terrorist threats in the US and that they pose a clear and present danger to America.
The others being sought are Abderraouf Jdey, a 39-year-old Canadian citizen; Adam Gadahn, known as Adam Pearlman, who is a US citizen; Aafia Siddiqui, who is believed to be in Pakistan; Amer El Maati, a 41-year-old Canadian citizen of Egyptian and Syrian origin; and Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who are wanted for 1998 bombings by al Qaeda members of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.